CNN: Holder buffeted by demands for memos, prosecutions
Attorney General Eric Holder was decidedly non-committal Thursday as he was buffeted on Capitol Hill by alternating demands to release — or not — more secret torture-related documents, and to prosecute — or not– Bush administration officials who wrote and approved those documents.

NYT: Ethics Panel Is Asked to Look Into Kennedy Leaks
The state’s top ethics panel is reviewing a request from three government watchdog groups to investigate the Paterson administration’s leaks of confidential information provided by Caroline Kennedy when she was seeking appointment to the United States Senate.

The Economist: A new start in the Americas
Anti-Americanism was invented in Latin America as the expanding United States first swallowed a chunk of Mexico and then turned the Caribbean into an American lake, arousing nationalist resentment along the way. There have since been other, more co-operative strands in inter-American relations. But George Bush reminded many Latin Americans that what they like least about their northern neighbours is an attitude of overbearing arrogance. He thus offered an easy target for those, such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, who like to blame their countries’ problems on a foreign scapegoat.

US News & World Report: 10 Most Important Obama Faith Moments
From expanding the White House's faith-based office to opening his rallies with prayer, Barack Obama has embraced faith in a more visible way than any other president in recent memory. At the same time, Obama's actions on a variety of fronts, from abortion policy to accepting a speaking invitation at Notre Dame—a prestigious Roman Catholic university—have outraged religious conservatives. The confluence of these two phenomena have made for an explosion of "faith moments" in the first 100 days of Obama's presidency. Here are the 10 most important.

NYT: Gonzales Intervened on Lawmaker, Ex-Officials Say
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency concluded in late 2005 that a conversation picked up on a government wiretap was serious enough to require notifying Congressional leaders that Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California, could become enmeshed in an investigation into Israeli influence in Washington, former government officials said Thursday.

The Weekly Standard: Oh, The Changes We'll See
Barack Obama is unhappy with much that preceded his occupation of the White House, and not only his predecessors conduct of foreign policy, for which he is a serial apologizer. Pre-Obama domestic policy also displeases him: any prosperity the nation enjoyed, he says, was built on a foundation of sand. That won't happen again: the trillions of debt he is loading on the nation's books will enable us to erect our post-recession house on solid rock, he says. Our world will never be the same again.

NYT: To Save Money, States Turn to Furloughs
Licenses for same-sex marriages were supposed be issued in Iowa starting this Friday. But because of a crimped state budget, court employees will be on mandatory furlough that day and the courts will be closed. Gay couples cannot start filing for their licenses until Monday.

Washington Post: Auto Retirees Brace for Hardship
As the Obama administration prepares to send Chrysler into bankruptcy court, with General Motors possibly to follow, one of the biggest losers may be the automakers' current and future retirees, a group of nearly 1 million people who could see their pensions and health-care funds slashed by tens of billions of dollars.
WSJ: Rising Costs Kick Price of Trusty Tin Can
The global recession is easing many costs for food and consumer-goods companies. Yet one simple but crucial product is soaring in price: the tin can.

Washington Post Op-Ed: Getting Real on Wind and Solar
Why are we ignoring things we know? We know that the sun doesn't always shine and that the wind doesn't always blow. That means that solar cells and wind energy systems don't always provide electric power. Nevertheless, solar and wind energy seem to have captured the public's support as potentially being the primary or total answer to our electric power needs.

WSJ: Cuban-Americans Ponder What U.S. Should Do Next
With the gradual passing of the generation of Cubans who fled their country after former President Fidel Castro seized power, a near consensus is emerging here for the U.S. to ease its harsh policies toward the island, just 90 miles away.

NYT: Plight of Carmakers Could Upset All Pension Plans
Decisions that the government will make soon on the future of General Motors and Chrysler could accelerate the decline of traditional pension plans, which have sheltered generations of workers from an impoverished old age.

CNN: ANC celebrate ahead of S. Africa vote tally
Votes were still being counted Thursday evening in South Africa's parliamentary elections, but the ruling African National Congress was already celebrating what party officials predicted will be a crushing victory.

CNN: Pakistan sends troops to area grabbed by Taliban
Pakistani authorities on Thursday deployed paramilitary troops to a district, only 96 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital, where Taliban militants appeared to be consolidating control after this week's landgrab.

NYT: Yemen Dispute Slows Closing of Guantánamo
The Obama administration’s effort to return the largest group of Guantánamo Bay detainees to Yemen, their home country, has stalled, creating a major new hurdle for the president’s plan to close the prison camp in Cuba by next January, American and Yemeni officials say.

Boston Globe: US fears Taliban gains in Pakistan
Top US officials are increasingly concerned about Pakistan's ability to confront the Taliban, who appear emboldened by the government's decision to cede a large part of its territory to the armed Islamic militants.

CNN: Time running out on Chrysler
Chrysler LLC faces the most difficult, and important, week in its 84-year history as the automaker tries to close three difficult deals in order to avoid bankruptcy.

CNN: Stocks stage late advance
Stocks staged a late-session rally at the end of a turbulent day, influenced by a weak housing market report, a mix of corporate results and the latest for the automakers.

WSJ: Morgan Stanley Eyes Big Trading Change
Morgan Stanley is considering changes to its biggest proprietary-trading desk, including spinning it out into a hedge fund or opening up the unit to outside investors, according to people familiar with the discussions.